SHEFFIELD moved to the top of the Premiership at the end of an eventful night at Owlerton.

The Tru Plant Tigers leapfrogged opponents Ipswich with a 43-35 win with a result declared after Heat 13 with the track curfew reached.

A high speed crash for visiting skipper Danny King in Heat Seven saw several air bags burst on bend two - leading to a lengthy delay.

Up until that moment, the first six races had been keenly contested with the scores tied at 18-18.

A hat-trick of shared races opened things up with drama coming in Heat Two when Connor Mountain was on the wrong end of a 50/50 decision, despite Ipswich guest Broc Nicol appearing to leave Sheffield’s Rising Star with no room down the back straight of the opening lap.

A dropped chain for Adam Ellis whilst attempting a practice start ahead of Heat Four forced him onto his spare bike - and the last minute rush seemed to harm his approach as the visitors drew first blood.

Sheffield skipper Kyle Howarth went agonisingly close to making it two wins out of two in Heat Five after an enthralling opening tussle with Paul Starke, but Ipswich No.1 Jason Doyle produced a fine blast around the boards off the final bends to snatch victory on the line.

Tigers pulled level after Heat Six though with their first 5-1 of the night when guest reserve Justin Sedgmen, in for broken scaphoid victim Jake Allen, made it back-to-back race wins courtesy of another quick getaway.

Then came the moment former Sheffield man King picked up some drive on bends one and two whilst leading the initial staging of Heat Seven - and discomfort in his arm led to him withdrawing from the rest of the meeting.

An unwanted, yet unavoidable, delay was then encountered with a rare air supply issue to the one air bag needing to be resolved before racing could continue with rider safety paramount.

Despite bike problems causing Sedgmen to exceed the two minute time allowance, replacement Mountain and Ellis moved Sheffield ahead for the first time with a 4-2.

Mountain’s own misfortunes continued though when he was punished with a 15-metre handicap for touching the tapes in Heat Eight.

And Howarth brought the house down with a breathtaking ride in the re-run as he produced an almost identical move to the one that saw him pipped by Doyle earlier in the night.

He was then straight back out in Heat Nine where a third place led to another 4-2 with Tobiasz Musielak claiming his first race win of the fixture.

And back-to-back 3-3s followed before the Pole played his part in what would turn out to be a significant race result.
Musielak and Sedgmen did all of the hard work in the early exchanges of Heat 12 - securing a second maximum of the evening to move the Tigers 40-32 ahead.

Doyle extended his unbeaten run with another classy victory in Heat 13 - and with the gap still at eight, he was nominated as a tactical substitute in the ‘penultimate’ race.

But just as he shot around the outside of fellow Aussie Sedgmen, team-mate Paul Starke went spiralling into the air fence, bouncing back in spectacular fashion.

With Ipswich unable to gain an advantage in the re-run and the curfew within sight, both teams agreed to call it a night after 13 races.

Tru Plant Tigers team boss Simon Stead said: “I’d like to say a big thank you to all the track staff who worked super hard to make sure we had a meeting - because without that, we would’ve had to have called it a day there and then.

“Yes it was frustrating, yes there was a delay but the fact we managed to get through to a result in the end was a good thing.

“As a club we’d like to thank the supporters for the patience they showed as well - they stuck with us and we can’t thank them enough.

“As for the result, that was the result we needed.

“They made us work hard for it which we knew they were going to do.

“So we all had to dig deep and credit where it’s due, with the help of Sedgy who did a fantastic job, all the lads had to play their part tonight and they did just that.”

Sheffield head to Belle Vue next Monday (July 4, 7.30) with the next action at Owlerton on Thursday, July 14 (7.30) with reigning Champions Peterborough the visitors.

SHEFFIELD 43: Justin Sedgmen 10+3, Tobiasz Musielak 9+1, Kyle Howarth 9, Adam Ellis 7, Jack Holder 6+3, Connor Mountain 2, Craig Cook r/r.
IPSWICH 35: Jason Doyle 12, Erik Riss 9, Danyon Hume 7+1, Paul Starke 4, Troy Batchelor 1+1, Broc Nicol 1+1, Danny King 1+1.
Abandoned after 13 Heats (Curfew) – Result stands